In Oromo Waaqeffanna religion the earth, lafa (also dachee), is the great female counterpart of the sky-god Waaqa. The Macha Oromo studied by Lambert Bartels put the relationship plainly: 'the earth is Waaqa's wife' — lafa niti Waaqaa. Waaqa, imagined as a loving father, sends the rain from above, while the earth, imagined as a mother, is fertile and creative, nourishing and protecting everything that lives; the two are held to be inseparable, and Oromo prayers, blessings and curses characteristically invoke the pair together, by Waaqa and by the earth, so that heaven and earth stand as joint witnesses to human words. The earth also receives her own share of worship: drops of drink are let fall to the ground in libation, and offerings are returned to her in thanks for feeding and carrying Waaqa's creation. As the visible, tangible half of the divine couple, she completes the Oromo picture of a cosmos held between the sky above and the life-bearing earth below.